Assessment of Fishery Resources in the Lagonoy Gulf, Philippines / Noemi SB. Lanzuela, Virginia L. Olaño and Kristine SM. Paredes

Includes bibliographical references

The Lagonoy Gulf is one of the largest and most important fishing grounds in the Bicol Region. It is endowed with commercially important finfish and is characterized by a multi-species and a multi-gear fishery. Assessment of marine fishery resources was done to determine the status of the gulf and to evaluate the effects of fishing activities in support to fisheries management. The data used were from 1998 to 2012. Consolidated results from the National Stock Assessment Program (NSAP) of Region V were collected along the determined landing sites in the provinces of Albay and Camarines Sur. The results showed that catch composition was dominated by small pelagics (43.83%), followed by large pelagics (42.18%), and demersal fishes (13.94%). It is also noted that 89-98% of the small pelagic species were caught below the length at first maturity and their vulnerability to several fishing gears resulted in growth overfishing. Analysis of the growth parameters indicated that the species were relatively fast-growing and short-lived – L∞ ranges from 24.92 for Indian scad (Decapterus russelli) to 52.81 for Frigate tuna (Auxis thazard); and a k value of 0.85 for the same species (A. thazard) to 1.34 for Indian mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta). The total mortality rate is high, ranging from 7.02, as manifested in Bigeye scad (Selar crumenophthalmus), to 13.13 for the Island mackerel (R. faughni). Lagonoy Gulf also suffers from overexploitation, in which computed E values were far beyond the optimum level of exploitation (E ranges from 0.69 to 0.84), which is the result of heavy fishing pressure in the area.

English eng